Wayside's Statement of

Gender Inclusivity

What is Wayside's Statement of Gender Inclusivity?

As part of the Strategic Goals for 2015- 2019, Wayside leadership identified "(A Key Driver): SUPPORT our staff capacity to serve by increasing satisfaction, compensation, diversity, and career development, as evidenced by increased recruiting and retention." Action step 2.3, "Wayside will focus substantial efforts upon diversity and inclusion across the agency, becoming an affirming and welcoming community as a result," and Action step 4.3, "Wayside will develop our expertise and clinical staff to be a significant resource for LGBTQ+ youth and families."

In order to accomplish this, Wayside is committed to respecting every staff, client and community member's preferred gender identity and pronoun preference.

What is a pronoun?

Pronouns allow us to refer to someone without having to repeat the person's name. Because of pronouns, we can say, "Beth is going to her office where she will call her friend," instead of, "Beth is going to Beth's office, where Beth will call Beth's friend." Because pronouns are a "stand-in" for a person's name, it is just as important to get them right as it is to call someone by the correct name.

Why are we emphasizing sharing pronouns?

In American English, pronouns are also tied to gender. When you choose a pronoun to refer to someone, you are assuming and labeling that person's gender. Because gender is not binary (i.e. there are more genders than just male and female), and you can't know someone's gender identity by looking at them, we can't make assumptions about a person's gender- or which pronouns we should use to refer to that person.